Railway-crossing.



B. P. BLAKE.

RAILWAY CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED PBBA, 1914.

1,095,788. I Patented May 5, 1914.

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B.F.BLAKE.

RAILWAY CROSSING.

APPLIOATION FILED IEBA, 1914.

1,095,788. Patnted May 5, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2' COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH COHWASHINGTOM l5. 6,

B. F. BLAKE.

RAILWAY CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED IEB. 4, 1914.

1,095,788. Patented May 5, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANOORAFN 60., WASHINGTON. D. c.

B. F. BLAKE. I RAILWAY cnossme.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, 1914.

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BENJAMIN F. BLAKE, OF MARION, OHIO.

RAILWAY-CROSSING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 5,191

Application filed February 4, 1914. Serial No. 816,591.

provements in Railway-Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to railway crossings, that is to the portion of railway tracks where one of said tracks is arranged at an angle to the other track, and the object of the inventionis to provide a bridge or crossing rail at the track which registers or alines with the ends or" the rails of one of the main tracks to provide a continuation for the said track and which may be rotated to bring the same into register or alinement with the second rails or the main track, in accordance with the direction of travel of the rolling stock over the said main rails, and whereby the shock and jar occasioned by the wheels of the rolling stock passing between the gaps and the ordinary crossing is entirely overcome and also whereby the life of the bridge or cross rails is materially extended and danger of injury to the ends of the rails of the main track is effectively overcome.

Vith the above object in view, and others which will appear as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed, the improvement resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings there has been illustrated a satisfactory reduction of the improvement to practice, but the nature of the invention is such that the details of construction thereof may be varied, and so the drawings are to be understood as merely illustrative and that I am not. to be restricted to the details of construction therein disclosed but am entitled to all such changes as fall within the scope of my claims.

In the drawings: Figure l is a top plan view of a railway crossing provided with bridge rails elevated preparatory to the rotation of the same to bring the ends of the rails into register with the rails of the right angular main track, Fig. 5 is a central sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 5, Fig. 7 is a similar sectional view on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5, Fig. 8 is a detail enlarged view illustrating the toggle means for raising the structure to permit of the rotation of the bridge rails, Fig. 9v

is a view illustrating hydraulic means for raising the said bridge rails, Fig. 10 is a section, similar to Fig. 6, but illustrating co-acting toothed wheels for imparting a rotary movement to the structure, Fig. 11 is a detail sectional view showing the means for securing the angular brace members to one of the bridge rails, and Fig. 12 is a perspective view of one of the socket members employed in the construction.

As is well known in track construction, where one railway crosses another, a space is provided at the crossing for the flanges of the wheels of the rolling stock. It may also be stated that such crossings may be arranged at comparatively short intervals upon one of the tracks, and as the treads of the wheels of the rolling stock necessarily sink between the spaces, the said treads become flattened or otherwise mutilated, while at the same time the rail ends being subjected to a continuous impact of force by the wheels soon break or become otherwise damaged. As a consequence,the cost of maintenance to such rail crossings reaches a considerable height, and furthermore, the flattening or mutilation of the car wheels not infrequently results in the breakage of the same, and many railway wrecks have been traced to this cause. Furthermore, the shock and jar incident to the wheels passing over the gaps at the crossings shock the nerves of the passengers within the coaches, and have become a source of annoyance to the traveling public.

With my improvement, now about to be described, the above objections are entirely overcome, and in addition thereto'my de vice will serve as a protective means for preventing accidents due to side-on collisions at the crossing, as with a track constructed in accordance with my improvement the engineer of a train will know that it is impossible for him to make a crossing without having received the proper signal.

tially U-shaped band or ring 29 may engage with the peripheries of the flanges and the opposite faces thereof.

The hub extension 26, in the main figures of the drawings, is provided with a band 30 which has secured at diametrically opposite points thereon laterally arranged pins 31 which form the pivotal connection fora pair of links These lin rs are in turn pivotally secured to additional links the links 33 being pivotally arranged in bearings 3st which are secured to the base plate 7, while the numeral 35 designates an operat ing rod or rods which are connected to the pivots of the links, and which, when pulled in one direction to strengthen the links will raise the hub extension 26 upon the axle 9, and likewise raise the hub 10 which, through the medium of the brace members 11 and 17, raises the bridge rails 3 and the socket members 14: above the rods or shafts 19'to permit of the cable 25 being operated to rotate the bridge rails to bring their ends into register with the rails of the second main track, and their sockets into position to be received upon the rods or shafts 19. hen in such position, the rods 35 are operated to break the toggle lever connection between the links 32 and 33, permitting the device to lower by its own weight to bring the bridge rails upon their supporting I-beams a and the hub extension 26 of the socket members upon the rest plates 22.

As shown in Fig. 9, the hub extension 26 may have its lower end provided with a piston head or packing box and be arranged within a cylinder, the upper end of which being flanged as designated by the numeral 36, and the cylinder may be provided with an inlet pipe 37 and an outlet pipe 38. hen fluid is directed to the pipe 37, the hub extension will rise, elevating the device as just described, and when the fluid is allowed to flow through the outlet pipe 38, the device will fall by gravity. Also, as illustrated in Fig. 10 of the drawings, the wheel 24: may have a toothed periphery, the said teeth being engaged by teeth upon a smaller wheel 39, the smaller wheel having an axle 4C0 which may be operated by any suitable mechanism (not shown). The wheel 39, it is to be understood, is of a comparatively great thickness to permit. of the vertical movement of the hub extension 10 and still retain its teeth in engagement with the teeth of the wheel 2st.

In order to protect the structure from the elements as well as from the dust and dirt of the road, I provide the same with a cover 40, the top of which inclines in all directions downwardly from the center, so that the same will shed water, snow, etc, and the ends of the cover are further raised at an inclination and connected to the inner faces of the rails 12, the said inclined ends being indicated by the numeral 41. Also, to protect the manhole as well as the I-beam supports, I provide an angular shed 42 upon the outer faces of the bridge rails 3, the same terminating in vertically offset portions or flanges 43 which rest upon and frictionally contact with plates 4: 1 which are arranged upon the roadbed, the said plates having their inner edges flanged, as at to, so that moisture cannot find ingress between the edge of the member as and the manhole or the elements supported by the bed 6. The brace. members 11 and the truss'rods 17 serve as spokes which connect the bridge rails 3 with the hub.

From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the simplicity of the device as well as the advantages thereof will, it is thought, be perfectly apparent to those skilled in the art to which such invention apportains without further detailed description. 7

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is: V

1. In a railway crossing, main tracks arranged at an angle to each other, bridge ails between the rails of one of the main tracks and in registering alineinent with the said rails, vertically disposed locking means for retaining the bridge rails in such alinement, means for elevating the bridge rails to bring the same out of engagement with the locking means, and means for rotating the bridge rails to bring the same in register but above the second main rails, means for permitting the lowering of the bridge rails and to bring the same into engagement with the said vertical locking means for sustaining the said bridge rails in registering alinement with the said second main rails.

2. In a railway crossing, two main tracks arranged at an angle to each other, two' bridge rails alining and registering with the tracks of one of the main rails, a hub, spokes upon the hub, said spokes connected with the brid e rails, and a shaft for the hub, and means for rotating the hub upon the shaft to bring the bridge rails into register with the rails of either of the main tracks.

3. In a railway crossing, two main tracks arranged at an angle to each other, two bridge rails between the rails of one of the main tracks and in registering alinement therewith, a shaft arranged central of the crossing, a hub upon the shaft, spokes for the hub, said spokes being connected with the bridge rails, socket members upon certain of the spokes, vertical rods upon the roadbed receiving the socket members to sustain the bridge rails in register with the main rails, means for raising the hub upon the shaft to bring the socket members out of engagement With the rod, means for revolving the hub to bring the bridge rails in alme-- ment with the rails of the second main track,

and means for permitting the lowering of the hub upon the shaft to bring the socket members of certain of the rods for sustaining the bridge rails in register with the rails of the second mentioned track,

4:. In a crossing, main rails having their t acks arranged at an angle to each other, said crossing having a manhole, an axle projecting through the manhole, a hub upon the axle, spokes radiating from the hub, short rails disposed between the rails of one of the main tracks and connected with the spokes, socket members having cone-shaped bores secured to certain of the spokes, coneshaped rods arranged to receive the socket members, a wheel upon the hub, a sleeve upon the shaft and supporting the hub, means for raising the wheel upon the shaft to elevate the hub to bring the socket members out of engagement wit-h the rods, means for actuating the wheel to rotate tha shaft to bring the bridge rails parallel with the rails of the second named track, means for lowering the sleeve upon the shaft to allow the hub to gravitate to bring the cone-shaped sockets over the eone-shaped rods other than those previously engaged by the said coneshaped members to retain the bridge rails in register with the rails of the second mentioned track.

5. In a railway crossing, two main tracks having their rails arranged at angles, bridge rails between the tracks of one of the main rails and arranged flush and in register with the said rails, Lbeam supports for the bridge rails, the crossing having a manhole arranged centrally thereof, a shaft projecting Yertically through the manhole, a hub upon the shaft, bracket members secured to the hub, horizontal brace members connected with certain of said brackets, and with the inner faces of the bridge rails, cone-shaped socket members secured upon certain of said braces, coneshaped rods embedded within the crossing and engaging within the said socket members, plates upon the rods forming rests for the sockets, angular rods connected with the bridge rails and with the remaining brackets upon the hub, means for raising the hub upon the axle to bring the socket members out of engagement with the cone-shaped rods, means for revolving the hub when in such position to bring the bridge rails above but in alinement with the rails of the second mentioned track, means for permitting the hub to drop by gravity upon the shaft to bring the sockets over certain of the cone-shaped rods to retain the bridge rails in register with the rails of the second mentioned track, a cover connected with the bridge rails and arranged over the manhole, a shed connected with the outer face of each of the bridge rails, plates upon the ends of the said rest, and said plates having their inner edges formed with ver: tical flanges.

6. In a railway crossing, two main tracks which have their rails arranged at an angle to each other and which terminate adjacent each other, brie ge rails between the rails of one of the main tracks, an axle disposed centrally of the crossing, a hub upon the axle having its lower end provided with an annular flange, sleeve upon the axle having its upper end provided with an annular flange upon which the flange of the hub rests, toggle levers, the upper links of which being pivotally connected with the sleeve, operating rods for the toggle levers, means for operating the rods to actuate the levers to raise the sleeve upon the shaft to elevate the hub, a wheel upon the hub, means for rotating the wheel, spokes upon the hub connecteu with the bridge rails, and vertically disposed means for sustaining the bridge rails in register with the rails of either of the main tracks.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. BLAKE.

Witnesses G. E. MAUsnn, WM. P. MnLoNY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

